Conceptualizes a framework for conducting critical classroom-discourse analysis. Critiques the scope and method of current models of classroom-interaction analysis and classroom-discourse analysis and advocates using poststructuralist and postcolonialist understandings of discourse to develop a critical framework for understanding what actually…

Presents a set of descriptive models for teaching paragraph development in English as a second language (ESL) writing classes based on the "given/new contract," a theory of information distribution developed text linguists. Discusses applications of the models to ESL composition classes, particularly scientific and technical writing classes. (SED)

Investigates a preemptive focus on form, occasions when either the teacher or a student chose to make a specific form the topic of discourse. Found that in 12 hours of meaning-focused instruction, there were as many preemptive focus-on-form episodes (FFEs) as reactive FFEs (i.e., corrective feedback). (Author/VWL)

Focuses on episodes from English classes in four Hong Kong high schools located in different socioeconomic areas. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, argues that different pedagogical approaches may be compatible or incompatible with or may challenge the students. (Author/VWL)

This paper describes two specific applications of discourse analysis in English as a second language classes. At the advanced level it provides the tools for students as they interpret contemporary fiction. At the intermediate level, it provides tools for the teacher to establish bases for clarity of communication with students. (SW)

This paper discusses why different classroom techniques are needed in composition classes for teaching English to foreign speakers and to non-standard English speakers. Current pedagogical methods for teaching and testing composition for the two kinds of speakers are reviewed. Sentence combining, discourse analysis, and cloze testing are…

Argues that there are very good reasons for developing discourse grammars for second-language (L2) teaching. Exemplifies the criteria for moving from sentence-based grammar to the discourse level. The criteria are based on pedagogical and descriptive problems in grammar that sentence-based approaches cannot adequately deal with. (Author/VWL)

Argues that a major cause of the inconsistent use of the past tense even by very advanced learners of English as a second language is an inadequate understanding of its actual meaning and discourse function. Suggestions are offered for teaching and practicing this tense in context. (SED)

The relationship between writing and reading linking prescriptive and contrastive rhetoric, textual discourse analysis, ESP text research, and psycholinguistics and reading is examined. The chief axioms stressed for writers are planning and using discourse devices. How these can be translated into reading strategies is demonstrated. (PMJ)

Reports a study designed to answer the question of whether English as a second language (ESL) reading can be facilitated by explicit teaching of text structure. Results indicate that training on the top-level rhetorical organization of expository texts significantly increased the amount of information that 25 intermediate-level ESL students could…

Presents a microanalysis of a segment of an adult English as a Second Language class in order to illustrate classroom interaction that combines the goals of negotiation among participants and explicit instruction on the formal features of language. The article urges teachers to microanalyze their classroom discourse in order to improve teaching…

Examines code switching occurring during group work in English-as-a-Second-Language classes in Spain in which the learners share a first language. Argues that the discourse produced in this context is layered as the participants oscillate between a literal (off-record) and a nonliteral (on-record) frame. Suggests that the significance of language…

This study examined transformations in educational discourse in the context of history lessons at a Hungarian secondary school with an English immersion program. It provides a contextualized analysis of classroom discourse practices by examining some of the sociocultural, linguistic, and academic knowledge structures that are integral to and…

Considering the complicating effect of cultural differences in writing conventions, this study examines discourse tradition as influenced by Confucian/Taoist precepts and those of U.S. academic environments, the latter requiring rational argumentation, justification, and proof. Pedagogical implications of native-speaker and nonnative-speaker…

This paper traces the development of a function-based module, TELEFUN, produced to teach telephone English to Francophone public servants in Canada. Telephone discourse is analyzed, and a number of techniques, including Function Frames and Function Dials, are described. (CFM)